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Abstract Distal radius fractures are one of the most common fractures in adults. More research is needed to establish evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to generate cost-effective and fair fracture treatment. The Swedish National Patient Register is a principal source for population-based epidemiologic studies in Sweden. The validity of some–but not all–diagnoses in the register is high. Little is known regarding the validity of registration of distal radius fractures. A dataset of cases registered with diagnosis of distal radius fracture (S52.5) or distal radius and ulna fracture (S52.6) were collected from the Swedish National Inpatient and Outpatient Registers. Six cohorts, each containing 240 simple random samples, were constructed. Radiographic reports and medical records were reviewed to confirm or reject the diagnosis as well as, in relevant cases, the surgical intervention. Positive predictive values (PPV) were calculated. The PPV for distal radius fracture in the register ranges between 92 and 100%, lower if coded as S52.6 and higher if there was an adherent code of surgical intervention. Codes for surgical intervention reached a PPV of 95–100%. In conclusion, the validity of the codes for diagnosis and the surgical treatment of distal radius fracture is high in the Swedish National Patient Register. According to our results, the register may be used as a reliable data source for population-based research of distal radius fractures.

Distal radius fractures are one of the most common fractures in adults. More research is needed to establish evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to generate cost-effective and fair fracture treatment. The Swedish National Patient Register is a principal source for population-based epidemiologic studies in Sweden. The validity of some–but not all–diagnoses in the register is high. Little is known regarding the validity of registration of distal radius fractures. A dataset of cases registered with diagnosis of distal radius fracture (S52.5) or distal radius and ulna fracture (S52.6) were collected from the Swedish National Inpatient and Outpatient Registers. Six cohorts, each containing 240 simple random samples, were constructed. Radiographic reports and medical records were reviewed to confirm or reject the diagnosis as well as, in relevant cases, the surgical intervention. Positive predictive values (PPV) were calculated. The PPV for distal radius fracture in the register ranges between 92 and 100%, lower if coded as S52.6 and higher if there was an adherent code of surgical intervention. Codes for surgical intervention reached a PPV of 95–100%. In conclusion, the validity of the codes for diagnosis and the surgical treatment of distal radius fracture is high in the Swedish National Patient Register. According to our results, the register may be used as a reliable data source for population-based research of distal radius fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:Register study.Objectives:To design and implement a validation process to check the completeness of the Hospital Discharge Register (HDR) held by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare.Setting:Sweden.Methods:An accurate traumatic spinal cord injury prevalence group (n=495) was acquired from the Swedish Spinalis Clinic. A register control was performed on the group by raising three questions to check the validity of the HDR: Is an inpatient stay registered in association with the injury date? Is the reported first length of stay plausible, given the level and extent of injury? Are all the anticipated care and/or rehabilitation providers represented in the HDR?Results:For 62% (of 413 cases) the first registered hospitalization date correlated with the injury date. For the other 38%, hospitalization was reported to start between 2 and 8651 days after injury. Considering the level and extent of injury, individuals were reported to have unrealistically short initial hospitalization. The prevalence group visited 42 different hospitals and 47 clinics. Five rehabilitation clinics, though, were not reported.Conclusions:The HDR is a valuable source when conducting epidemiological and health services research. However, using the register without any validation process could, as detected in the investigated diagnosis group, lead to a severe underestimation of the inpatient usage. The study showed that systematic errors could be detected by means of extensive knowledge of the diagnosis group.Spinal Cord (2008) 46, 748–752; doi:10.1038/sc.2008.42; published online 13 May 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to validate information held at the Swedish Inpatient Registry on oophorectomy and/or hysterectomy procedures, the register codes were compared with data from the medical records in a random sample of 1,338 women. Only 1% of these codes were missing but 5% were erroneous, which in most cases meant that the oophorectomy had been misclassified. The positive predictive value of operation codes was high, ranging from 86 to 100% of the registered events. The actual procedures among women registered with a code for hysterectomy with or without oophorectomy comprised hysterectomy alone in 47% of the women and hysterectomy with a bilateral or unilateral oophorectomy in 30% and 20%, respectively.The reliability of register codes for major gynecological surgical procedures is good, but when the code for hysterectomy is used, medical record data are needed to ascertain the ovarian status. Revised codes are therefore recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]